Journal for the Integrated Study of Dietary Habits
Online ISSN : 1881-2368
Print ISSN : 1346-9770
ISSN-L : 1346-9770
Present state of dietary education by school dietitians
Focusing on nationwide elementary and junior high school
Miho TodaTakeshi Homma
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2004 Volume 15 Issue 3 Pages 194-201

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Abstract

Accommodation of the prevention of lifestyle related diseases is said to be important starting in childhood, and improvement of nutritional factors and eating habits in particular is extremely important as a primary prevention. Expectations are currently being placed on dietary education at schools, and school dietitians are attracting attention as nutrition and health specialists. With this in mind, a survey was conducted on the present state of dietary education provided by school dietitians at elementary and junior high schools for the purpose of identifying future problems and areas for improvement.
National and public elementary and junior high schools contained in the 2004 National School Conspectus were classified according to size, and 650 elementary schools and 250 junior high schools were selected at random as subjects of this survey. Anonymous, original questionnaires that we prepared relating to such subjects as the presence and the contents of dietary education were mailed to the subject schools addressed to the school dietitians at those schools from July to September, 2001. Questionnaires were mailed after contacting school dietitians at each school by telephone in advance to request their cooperation and obtain their consent.
Responses were obtained from 778 schools representing a response rate of 86.4%. Dietary education were offered at 80.4% of the elementary schools and 68.5% of the junior high schools.In addition, among those schools offering dietary education, school dietitian was involved in dietary education at more than 90% of elementary and junior high schools. However, the numbers of school dietitians who were satisfied with the dietary education offered at their school were low, with only 6.4% of school dietitians being satisfied at elementary schools and only 3.4% at junior high schools. The most frequently indicated area where improvements should be made was a “lack of time” .
An important subject for the future is considered to be the providing of an environment that facilitates dietary education by school dietitians, including enhancing the working conditions of school dietitians and increasing the number of those teachers assigned by schools.

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© The Japan Association for the Integrated Study of Dietary Habits
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